Bharatiya Janata Party was left red-faced on Friday after rival groups within the party clashed in the open over the nomination of senior party leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra as the chief ministerial candidate for the forthcoming Delhi [Images] assembly elections.

A discord had been simmering in the BJP over Malhotra's nomination with supporters of party leaders Dr Harsh Vardhan and Vijay Goel feeling that their leaders had been betrayed.

"Money has changed hands," they alleged.

A ticket aspirant claimed that as much as Rs 11 lakh was paid for distributing a party ticket.

However, refuting the charges, party leader S S Ahluwalia told rediff.com, "It is a fair distribution if I get a ticket and unfair if I don't. Those who are left out vent their anger on the party leadership. I am sure that you would recall how followers of a senior leader, who wanted to be CM again, had created a scene in the party headquarters and indulged in gross indiscipline. It happens in almost all parties and has come to be accepted as part of polity."